Sigourney Weaver’s Ancestors Find Hope In Tragedy | Finding Your Roots | Ancestry®

Award-winning American actress Sigourney Weaver hoped to find a “scandal” in her family roots. What they learned might be more than she bargained for.
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[@laurietijerina3816]

Sigourney's great grandfather had beautiful handwriting.

[@carolyndamico2924]

A lost art….. the handwriting is beautiful. What’s sad that schools don’t teach cursive. My view point, in some ways education is going backward. How can we read history, if we can’t understand and read it.

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

Fountain pens required neatness, or it would smear easily. The invention of quick-drying ballpoint pen ink was the beginning of the end for good penmanship.

[@josephmaughan1635]

I have processed thousands of names while I was indexing old records all of them written in cursive it is a joy to see beautiful carefully written words that can be read hundreds of years later with clarity.

[@blakewilliams5627]

What stuck out to me is, he did it On a blank sheet of paper. No spaced line like on notebook paper.

[@fakereality96]

Too bad Gen Z can't read it.

[@dibarcus1452]

Sigourney Weaver seems to be aging gracefully. Doesn’t appear to have had any plastic surgery. Good for her. She looks amazing. ☺️

[@tikewhite1044]

I've ALWAYS LOVED HER JAW LINE, AND HER BEAUTIFUL LEGS!!!. ♠️THE VANITY ADDICT♠️

[@JerryHatrickShorts]

She’s absolutely beautiful.

[@Vejur9000]

Sigourney? Never. She’s an authentic person.

[@avlanche7777]

Still a beautiful lady.

[@matrix64]

That handwriting is exquisite and unmatched by any electronic means today. It blows my mind!

[@amirmajdirad730]

You said it Unreal

[@user-wf5co6ct7l]

As someone who is looking into my family history in London, I can assure you the handwriting on some of the census returns is atrocious and nearly unreadable. Then others, as you say, are like a piece of fine art. Sadly, too few are.

[@amievil3697]

The penmanship is exquisite

[@tjs114]

It's a legal document. Read the bottom and you'll see Josiah's handwriting and the witness' signature on the right. The legal document was probably written by a legal secretary.

[@Svensk7119]

He doesn't sound punitive. He sounds educated.

[@zedmarlen]

Guessing about people you never knew over 100 years after they died, and then forming conclusions about yourself is really "iffy"... Who knows if Josiah was a stick-in-the-mud, or if his wife was really mentally ill or not, or why, or for how long... Given that Edgar became a doctor in a progressive mental institution suggests that somewhere along the line, he was nurtured to be kind.

[@linebrunelle1004]

women had no rights of existence outside of a man's say-so...

[@traceyholt8223]

There were many reasons for women to be instituitionalised - one of them being adultery. It didn't mean you have mental health issues.

[@Odo55]

Why do they make Josiah out to be a bad guy ? He had to give evidence as to why he was seeking a divorce. We don't know why Barbara chose to go off with a much younger man. Something peculiar there.

[@IPlayOneOnT.V.]

Exactly. He even kept their daughter after his wife decided to trash their wedding vows. Sux for her.

[@avishalom2000lm]

Probably because the younger man had money (hence working as his home servant). Then she gets knocked up and hopes he'll make her an "honest woman", but she gets kicked to the curb. I agree that Josiah is the mensch here, taking care of their kids. Without him Sigourney might not even exist today.

[@judithkimmerling770]

Agreed agreed agreed

[@user-ym1pf4lz3h]

She sympathizes with the cheater??... all these actors who I really really liked sure seem to just disappoint left and right these days don't they?

[@TyrionCypher]

I do agree with not vilifying Barbara. However, how can Josiah , who took care of his daughter, be the bad guy in this story?

[@linebrunelle1004]

Remember that women were chattel, had no rights of existence outside of a man's say-so in those days.

[@traceyholt8223]

And there was nothing to prove that he was a "stick in the mud". He didn't file for divorce straight away but suffered through her 'disappearance' for 3 years and a miscarriage before filing.

[@ontheblockgod]

I LITERALLY JUST SAID THAT! How did Josiah become the bad guy? Didn't him raising his daughter alone lead to Sigourney's great grandparents being born which eventually led to her being here. It's sad because if the roles were reversed they would be sayin the same thing.

[@originalcosmicgirl]

I'm not saying Josiah was good or bad, but many men are better fathers than husbands. It was not common for women to just leave their families and live with another man back then. The social stigma would have been intense. Sometimes people have bad marriages, but it doesn't make them bad people.

[@jm7578]

Men are usually depicted as the bad guy even if they get cheated on.

[@chadlucier]

The type of logic someone has to use to vilify a father who was betrayed and stepped up for the child and to victimize and champion the mother who committed adultery and left her family only to be institutionalized is the logic that is ruining our society.

[@kennethbaker5223]

💯

[@cindyniles379]

Barbara left her daughter.

[@4ajustpeace]

It was sad to hear Sigourney brush off her great-great-grandfather as a "stick-in-the-mud". His wife sounds like she already had a mental illness or the beginnings of it. He lost his wife and had to raise his son by himself. There was enough trauma for all of them.

[@AndySaenz924]

She has narrated a lot of nature documentaries. She has a great narrating voice!

[@papasquat355]

Poor Josiah. I guess being faithful and raising your child after the mother runs off with a young man who is her employer is just dull. Old stick in the mud.

[@davidsellers3639]

According to her,but I think she is childless and barren anyway,what does she know except that casting couch😂😂😂

[@jakejackson8238]

@@davidsellers3639for the record, she has an adult daughter born to her and her husband of 40 yrs.

[@erinmalone2669]

@@davidsellers3639what the what?

[@dougie1968]

Sigourney's misandry was disturbingly casual in defending Barbara's heinous behaviour. Her arrogant presumption it must've been because Josiah was a "stick-in-the-mud" exposes her inner feminist attitude.

[@patricktuorto]

@@dougie1968 Agreed, thinking the same thing, that host seems like a weasel as well trying to commiserate with her at the expense of a man who was faithful and supporting and caring for the kid. Disgusting behavior by both of them.

[@georgeplimpton9429]

Why WOULD she be worried about finding a scandal? SHE didn't do it! All these people today making accusations about people because of something someone they didn't even know did, is ridiculous.

[@lenovovo]

I just got through watching this full episode ( Season 6 - Episode 6 ) I want to tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed it!

[@fakereality96]

The true scandal was there has never been any corroborating evidence as to why she set to self-destruct the Nostromo.

[@kevinwhelan9607]

Sigourney Weaver is the very epitome of an upper class Wasp - which indeed she is. Talk about looks giving off class messages. There's your proof! What a gifted actress, too❤

[@JO-kp6lk]

Rather brave and forthright of Sigourney to embrace the past of her family, wherever that might lead. I'm sure there are complicated stories in most families but not everyone wants but don't want to know, let alone be willing to share. It would be very difficult to not like Sigourney and respect her honesty.

[@theskyehiker]

This was very common. Women were often “put away” when they inconvenienced their male partners.

[@davidsellers3639]

The proper way😂😂 to

[@kirilattaf5621]

Bring back the good ol days

[@joep5146]

Today, it's very common for a woman who is inconvenienced by her husband to put him in the poor house. ;-(

[@kennethgarrison521]

No mention of the relationship that Barbara had with her daughter? Or did she not only leave her husband but her first child as well? Perhaps she was mentally ill all along. More likely actually, considering that she was institutionalized for the rest of her life.

[@eddietorres5655]

They don’t make presumptions on this show. They only present facts and records.

[@s.f.8867]

The son was older than the daughter.

[@trentgay3437]

Love you and all you're work

[@barbarabbraaggrant3398]

We seen it too often... when people were of inconvenience, sent them off to institutions at least back then. Nowadays, it's not even as easy sometimes, and domestic, psy, abuse continues. It's traumatic. But yes, fast forward to 2024. It is definitely much easier to have a life, work, and support oneself without depending on others. Love the show

[@davidsellers3639]

I disagree,people have way more needs nowadays ,are capable of doing less for themselves so they need more from others

[@tcl5853]

We cannot know why Barbara left her husband. She may have had good reasons to do so. However, her husband waited a considerable amount of time before filing for divorce, and it seems it wasn’t until after the miscarriage that he filed for the divorce. I think the benefit of the doubt for both parties may be the best approach.

[@davidsellers3639]

Well they all were punished anyway

[@dreasbn]

she's so classy and doesn't age... and if at all gracefully...

[@user-vm7yj4ls4p]

😂 she old Hag

[@patricktuorto]

Yep, vilifying Josiah who was betrayed by a woman who ran off with a younger guy, meanwhile Josiah was raising her daughter. Yeah Sigourney's real class act indeed.

[@yahyahussein425]

I thought she was sarcastic but she meant it! The husband was not wrong so don’t understand why she took her side. Lack of morals.

[@davidsellers3639]

DNA

[@steiner554]

Women. Nuff said.

[@cherylharewood6125]

I like Sigourney's reasoning for her relative's son becoming a doctor in a mental institution pioneering progressive treatments after his mother's was put in one until her death. It shows strength and hope in the face of tragedy 🙏.

[@AncestryUS]

Hi Cheryl, and thanks for stopping by! We hope you have enjoyed this episode with Sigourney! Thanks for sharing!

[@proper_miles]

Orrrr, just maybe, Barbara was always kind of a weirdo, cheated because she was selfish, and after some time, drove the new guy nuts too - and the miscarriage has nothing to do with anything. My point is, you don’t have enough information and don’t get to side with someone just because she too is a woman. My wife is the daughter of an adopted woman who had no clues to who her parents were. Using ancestry and DNA, I was able to figure it all out and completed their family tree. And while there were plenty of legitimate messy stories in there, we still only found more new mysteries than we even solved. We still aren’t sure of who is in the right or wrong in some of those stories, but that doesn’t mean we get to fill in the blanks with our imagination. That’s not how history works. People need to learn how to cope with the unknown.

[@ELEKTRARE]

I luv luv luv Sigourney so much, such a great actress & so bright so talented ❤❤😊

[@AncestryUS]

We couldn't agree more! She truly is such a great talent, it's fascinating learning more about her family history!

[@Swecan76]

So why did her great-great grandmother abandon her child that lived with Josiah? What was the story there. She didn't remain she decided to go sleep with a younger man. Maybe Josiah was bad, but is that known? Does it say anywhere he beat her? Or maybe She was just a cheater that left her Daughter and her Husband. I wouldn't jump on the pity wagon so fast without truly knowing the full story. The reason I say that is that what mother would leave her daughter/son to be raised by a person (the father) if he was so bad. Why wouldn't she remain at least, even if "suffering". That is what I find a little questionable in this story. I know back then he might as a man had more power to retain custody. But he filed for divorce because of her adulterous ways. So maybe she was the rotten egg in this. But it's easy to blame the man. Even though SHE is the cheater. Food for thought.

[@MrSourceplease]

The fact is, there's not enough information. Was she a cheater? Was he an abuser? Unknown. We can judge, or we can accept that life is complicated, and we must all make the best decisions we can with the options available to us in our time.

[@Swecan76]

@@MrSourceplease The clue for me that she was not a good woman was that she abandoned her child. So no matter how one tries to excuse it. IF the husband was a bad hombre, you'd still remain with your child to support and protect it. If he was not a bad man, then she was abandoning the child in an even worse way and she slept with another man got pregnant and was devastated when she had miscarriage. But she already had a child which she didn't care much for seemingly. In any case. The fact Sigourney jumped to her defense was just odd, no thought about it. Cheating or not. That made me kind of lose some respect for her.

[@susanalexander6721]

I love this Lady!❤

[@johnvaal]

I'm sorry but I close my eyes while watching this and all I see in my mind is Ripley running around a derelict spaceship taking out Alien pods with her flamethrower.

[@nasserabdi2630]

legend Sigourney Weaver, what a great actress! love from Somaliland ❤🤍💚

[@user-zn5qg4se6q]

I like her. She is classy!

[@Glen-qh5xq]

Remember that the word "hysteria" comes from the Greek hystera meaning womb. It was thought that mental illness in woman somehow came from the uterus (Latin for hystera).

[@rebeccataylor2049]

PPD is a serious thing. Been institutionalized for your entire life after that would be a horror.😢

[@Traveler516]

My great grandmother was in the asylum😢

[@fringelunatic]

A member of my family is related to her.(in law) If he does his ancestry, it'd be cool to see where they cross paths.

[@tobiasisback4605]

Sigourney still looks wonderful.

[@michaeloppenheimer2582]

99.9% of what the they do is record searching., Most people born before 1980 have never had any D.N.A taken and there is no DN.A record or any d n a on file.

[@haroldconover5221]

That's a great show . I wish I could afford him to do my DNA .

[@kalixta]

I will always see this Lady Sigourney Weaver as the Toughest Woman on the Planet!

[@ebonywatch]

A Hollywood actress is the toughest woman on the planet? Do you also believe John Wayne and Errol Flynn won WW II between them ?

[@sharksport01]

Its the black grinch who stole Christmas!

[@davidsellers3639]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@ccwoodlands1565]

There’s his story and her story and the real truth is always somewhere in between.

[@valswhitewolf6611]

in African history and Luther College I had many classes where Dr Gates was the professor with his videos on Africa so I have loved him for a very long time and I watched the show because he is in it or has something to do with it and not because of what's going on with people's lives.

[@user-xk1ff4gp7k]

Weaver is an actor until there's an actress award out there

[@user-qn1cd5mt4b]

Well well.😮

[@pirobot668beta]

I found that the family that raised me wasn't the family that gave me birth. I was born in the 1950's in a small-town Hospital...tailor-made for Nursery intrigues! "Undocumented adoption", you might say.

[@mattiasandersson2315]

She was a habitual line stepper?

[@mikesmitt-li3su]

i dont understand how he is the bad one in this story. my man got cheated on and still took care of his daughter while she was having flings with younger men. the morals of the west is screwed.

[@martinjohnson5498]

Josiah was caring for their child but we are sure he is the bad guy? Hollywood a-holes.

[@sandleman3006]

Josiah dodged a bullet.

[@sjo7869]

Hollywood-style logic. Different from the rest of the country.

[@henriettegraham9230]

I hear you.

[@blakewilliams5627]

I’ve seen a episode of who do you think you are where the man abandoned his “family” and started a new life, but after DNA testing they find out he was never the father. It was actually a American soldier who went home after the war. They hated this man at the beginning of the story, but once they found out the truth they forgave the grandmother and said they understand why she lied.

[@Thor13332]

How is Josiah the bad guy when hes the one being cheated on? The only evidence of wrong doing is about her. More facts are needed.

[@justonecornetto80]

What's more is that the allegation of adultery obviously wasn't contested in any way or it would be noted in the divorce register. What's more is that Herbert Lake was obviously a man of means because he could afford live in domestic servants and had a house large enough to accommodate them, so if the allegation was false, why didn't he bring a charge of criminal libel against Josiah?

[@pirimid9]

Finding Your Roots- instead of all the Rich and famous how about helping me find my roots!!! I know it goes from the U.S. to Cuba then Spain... James...

[@dirtfarmer3891]

Are any movie moguls watching this?? Please hire Sigourney, and hire her quick! She is the best actress America has known!

[@sharksport01]

🙄

[@davidsellers3639]

Says only you and a few others

[@dirtfarmer3891]

@@davidsellers3639 voting blue this year for the “uniter”, are you?

[@nancymetcalf3808]

I Find Family History Ever Interesting.

[@AncestryUS]

Nancy, that's great! Learning about your family history really is a fascinating journey.

[@peterpascone6942]

I feel bad for Josiah.

[@timower5850]

Escape Josiah? WTH?

[@artyfhartie2269]

She was very cruel to aliens.

[@KakarotGamingXP]

I thought she was cloned several times and had some form of alien DNA in her roots...

[@larryyoderlarryyoder353]

Her whole life is one big scandal

[@peterpascone6942]

It's amazing how much of Hollywood has absolutely no sense of morality.

[@steiner554]

Agreed.

[@bethanywhite877]

Her great great great grandfather could have sent Barbara away to work in that home for all we know. Sounds like she was vulnerable and who knows what happened to her in that household by that younger man especially given she ended up in a mental health institution where likely they made everything worse for her back in those days.

[@michaeloppenheimer2582]

No, Life has a way of lovely things, As you give so shall ye receive, You get bad you get bad, You give good you get good.

[@kenthetalkingpen2518]

Letter B

[@johnnymays4528]

Isn't that funny how she took her great grandmothers side. How telling is that. All the excuses in the world still doesn't make it right.

[@dudeman858]

What’s wrong with this lady that she’d side with the home wrecker that ran off with a younger guy? That’s pretty twisted.

[@steiner554]

That's women for you.

[@highlandergunn9240]

SHE BELONGS TO THE STREET

[@rebeccataylor2049]

• Being

[@ClanToreador]

Nobody should be vilifying anyone… like we are responsible for our ancestors lol

[@AlphaToOmegaXG]

How is that scandalous? It’s not her that committed adulterous and cheated.

[@davidsellers3639]

No, but the behavior has been documented in her bloodline,those behaviors could be hereditary 😂😂😂😂

[@andrewstryker3549]

Why do we give a crap about minstrels?

[@davidsellers3639]

I don’t

[@user-mk8wl2ox3n]

FIRST OFF ALL, WE ALL HAVE A STORY WE ALL HAVE A HISTORY NOBODY IS SPECIAL

[@hamacaboy]

Am i the only one impressed by how Weaver deduced the entire story befpre the host could explain and imagined the whole thing for us in detail?? No wonder shes such a great artist!!!

[@KristinaBenoit]

Escape from Josiah, really? Lol Barbara cheated on her husband and left him and her child for the other man.

[@melvinatkins998]

Her butt in the movie, ‘Alien’ was amazing!…. 💯

[@IPlayOneOnT.V.]

Could've been a stand-in.

[@melvinatkins998]

@@IPlayOneOnT.V. She’s still gorgeous!… Don’t ruin the fantasy with logic!…. Haha

[@IPlayOneOnT.V.]

@@melvinatkins998 To each his own. I don't matter. So, think what you want. Have a good one.

[@Trumpets144]

She’s a sellout like all the rest

[@lugwrench9832]

The GGG-Grandmother cheats, and the jilted husband is the bad guy !?

[@OfcrToddCrnkovichOPD]

What evidence shows that Josiah was not a good man? He had a crazy, adulterous wife who abandoned him, her child and her home. He stayed and took care of the girl and gave her stability. Sounds like he is the good guy here, and she is the lecher.

[@jameswest4819]

This platform is being heavily mind-patrolled and censored, with an apparently woke attitude. I learned that some of my ancestors, were run out of town...in Virginia, for setting their slaves free. The woman was the only woman in her county that could read and write, because she was an Amerindian and went to a religious school. Apparently, most women were not considered worthy of a school learnt education in that county. If people are made to pay reparations to other people in this country, the people in my family will all have to pay each other or not pay anyone.

[@alinapopescu872]

What's happened to "actress?" How come she's an ... actor?

[@valboolin3538]

Вернись к сигарам не бросай, / ведь ты с Кубы, удивляй

[@jamesingram3752]

The Gatekeeper is still hot….

[@lionheart830]

Not to mention her husband had her daughter which would tear many women apart.

[@rogereriksen2472]

Because of Barbara's own doing.

[@davidsellers3639]

Maybe because she was crazy

[@afnDavid]

Just tell us about USING the services and not this promotional advertisements. Advertisements do NOT help us whatsoever. sensationalism, hyperbole, and emotionalism is not useful either.

[@josephososkie3029]

Like getting drunk and acting obnoxious to cops? Hope not.

[@user-xk1ff4gp7k]

Hey Weaver maybe it wasn't the man's fault maybe granny was a w**** but from everyone that comes out of Hollywood you always have to portray the mail as being the villain

[@justinbordner6528]

You're all nuts!

[@davidsellers3639]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@eternallight351]

I feel bad for the husband being brought into a bad light over his wife's infidelity, but at least he got to live with his daughter. I think KARMA was perfectly served to the cheating wife!

[@matthiasegner3803]

Liebe Sigourney, Du Hast noch lange nicht alles erreicht! (Kuss). Ab dem Moment, wenn Du versuchst, "Schwäbisch" zu Sprechen.. Du meine Güte.. dagbei gefilmt zu werden(!?).. Dann geht eine Bombe hoch! Viel Spaß beim Üben!💜

[@laurencaulton103]

Maybe she was taken advantage of by that man while she worked for him. Women did not have the same resources that exist today. Women could be locked up for displeasing a man, or becoming inconvenient.

[@davidsellers3639]

I think it’s going to go back that way again soon,women have lost it😂😂😂😂

[@seant.palmatier7091]

This show is just bad historical practice. The host and guest just insert whatever they want for a narrative and run with it without evidence. Example: they take the letter written to the divorce court at face value that she had an affair. There's no evidence of that, but they just believe it. Women who worked as domestics often lived in the house they worked in.

[@steiner554]

But they don't often have miscarriages with the husband knowing they were pregnant.

[@rcr6264]

Even Sigourney's life is filled with women with a story to tell. They probably had her committed so she couldn't come back for her son. Not because of mental health.

[@davidsellers3639]

Have you looked around lately?Women didn’t go crazy in just lye last few years 😂it’s been going on a really long time

[@jamesperretta]

I'd NEVER submit to this. He constantly loves highlighting the salacious. He has suspect motives in my opinion.

[@spana123321]

Sigourney has Brummie ancestors 👍👍👍

[@richbabe7836]

OMG she looks like Michelle Obama on here 😂